Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice

With a title like Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice, this book sounds like it is a reference for a general audience, providing a general introduction to what cloud computing is all about.

Author Dan Marinescu, Ph.D is a computer science professor at the University of Central Florida, and the book is written for the college level reader, who has a strong interest in cloud computing; combined with an equally strong background in mathematics and statistics.

The book starts by taking a broad approach to the topic, rather than just jumping into cloud computing details. Chapters 1 and 2 detail computer networks in general, and then gets into parallel and distributed computing systems. Already in chapter 2, the book gets into the mathematics of cloud computing, and details cloud issues such as how the causality of local events can be derived from the process history and the transitivity of the causal relationship.

In chapter 3, the book gets into specific about the cloud, with an overview and comparison of Amazon, Microsoft and Google cloud initiatives.

From a security perspective, chapter 9 details the specifics of cloud security. It provides a high-level overview of the top concerns for cloud users and those designing cloud-based systems and various other cloud security risks.

As to Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice it’s an excellent resource for those tasked with developing and architecting sophisticated cloud systems and applications. The book also details how to integrate CDN (content delivery networks) into the cloud.

About half of the book includes advanced mathematics that may either be irrelevant or incomprehensible for most readers.

With that, many cloud initiatives have failed since the designers really believed the marketing gibberish that sophisticated cloud applications could be deployed in days. Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice details the many benefits of the cloud, but also the complexities that must be addressed for migrations to the cloud to be successful.